the imperial moth

As you sat under the stars a yellow gift fell from above,
a moth as big as my hand in the hand of my love.
His furry head nodded, then shook with fright.
His heavy wings drooped in the purple night.

You met his foreign face with sympathy
when you saw the moth-wing stung with injury.
Spotted bold and brown, a beauty brought low to the ground,
you marveled at the strange new life you’d found.

As you sat under the stars in a faraway land,
I felt that look in your face, a hand in my hand.